how does that one go again?

With great power comes great responsibility, I believe that’s how it goes.

The responsibility to know what to say and when to say it and when to keep your trap shut. The power to know more than you ever wanted to know, ever cared to know. 

I find myself wanting to know less as of late. 

I went to an AIGA event downtown last night. It was a panel discussion about finding your muse…about creativity and how to harness it. Four creative professionals sat in front of a room of roughly 100 designers and filled us in on the secrets of their success, on how they get things done. The one recurring theme I heard from each of these designers was in order to break out of a creative block, you need to walk away. To get up and leave for a little while. To take a breather. Distract yourself by staring at something other than a computer screen, other than the task at hand and perhaps the solution to your creative problem will come to you. I feel like I’ve been in a bit of a creative rut myself, but then again, I suppose that’s what happens when you move up the food chain, have more responsibility and less time in which to do things…the phone rings, the e-mails come in, questions need answering, immediacy is the name of the game. I no longer feel I have the luxury of allowing myself to be creative, and that’s kind of sad to me. I’m not sure if I need to take the time to start creating for work, outside of work or if I need to shut my door, draw the blinds, and retreat every once in a while. It’s not easy being everything that everybody needs. 

It’s strange when you get to this point in your career and you think, ah, I had it so easy back then.

tangled up in grey

I’m abandoning the alphabet this week in favor of writing whatever feels like escaping the confines of my very busy mind at this moment.

I try my hardest not to pay attention to the news. Not that I want to exist in a bubble or live in ignorance, in spite of the fact that ignorance is bliss, the news just isn’t too good these days. When the economy went down the crapper a wee bit back in the late 90’s early 2000’s, I was a lot younger, a lot more naive and a lot more willing to think it wouldn’t have any impact on my life. Sure, I knew people that got laid off, but it wasn’t anyone in my immediate circle. Now that I’m 8-10 years older and have a whole different world of responsibilites, both financial and personal, it all seems more scary. I always figured when I grew up that there wouldn’t really be much to be afraid of. I guess I was wrong. As I have mentioned in the past, I have worked the same job for over 10 years now. I’ve never been more afraid of not having my job than I do as of late. Companies letting folks go left and right. The job market being a little shriveled so that if I were to lose my job I’m not sure where I would run. From a financial standpoint, I’m a lot more secure than I was 8-10 years ago. In fact, my better half and I have been saving for a rainy day as of late…making sure that we’d be set for some sort of unemployment emergency. And we’re fortunate in that it’s just the two of us, plus dog plus house, and that we don’t carry a lot of debt. As I said, WORLDS apart from where I was financially in my younger days. I guess, at that point, I just felt more secure in my job. I’m trying not to let the grey around me pull me under. I’m trying to keep my head on straight and make sure that I do what I’m paid to do to the best of my abilities, proving myself worth the seat I sit in. I’m just concerned that may not be enough for too much longer. 

It’s a frightening world we live in these days, and all we can do is strap in and hold on tight.

I need my security blanket and my teddy bear, maybe a parachute.

oops.

So here I’m supposed to find time to write every day in November, a feat I have only achieved once in the past 3 years…I was feeling pretty good about this year, making time each day to write, having a strategy as far as subject matter. Yesterday I blew it. I suppose writing, much like exercise, should be a habit. Something routinely done. Weekends are hard to carve out time but at the same time there’s no excuse for not writing yesterday. I can think of a good two-hour stretch spent sitting on the couch after my run where I could’ve easily whipped out a post involving the letter L. 

Oh well. Just because I now don’t stand a chance at any of the prizes awaiting those who do post every day for NaBloPoMo doesn’t mean I can’t carry on with the alphabet. But today being Sunday, and my fingers being a bit numb from sitting in our back room (man, the temp drop between today and yesterday is insane), I think I’ll just go grab another cup of coffee and ponder how I’m going to finish out the letters L – Z